“They’re Just Children at the End of the Day”: How Is Child First Justice Applied to Children Who Commit Serious Crimes?

Child First (CF), the approach to youth justice now endorsed by the Youth Justice Board in England and Wales, centres around seeing children as children and meeting their needs in a child-focused way. CF opposes its predecessor, the risk-based approach, which focused on actuarial measurements of risk and led to net-widening, the overuse of custody, and harsher sentencing. As the current strategic approach for youth justice in England and Wales, it is essential to consider its applicability for all offence types, including the most serious. This study aimed to begin the exploration of this under-researched area by identifying the opinions of youth justice professionals on the application of theory to practice. This small-scale exploratory study, comprising five in-depth interviews with youth justice practitioners based in rural Wales, found a consensus amongst respondents that CF should apply to all offences, regardless of their seriousness, but with recognition that some factors centred around the child themselves and their relationship with their youth justice worker and with other services/the public may have an impact on this. Respondents suggested recommendations to counter these problems, leading to recommendations for future research to further embed CF at all levels of youth justice operation.